GCSEs: (public qualifications) - mixture of 8s and 9s (A*s)
A-Levels: (Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Further Maths) - predicted 3A*, 1A. Also completing an EPQ (research dissertation qualification, equivalent to half an A-level) - predicted A*
Awards
Won a national engineering competition (designed wearable energy harvesting device) (12 winners, approx 1000 entries)
Finalist in a national science fair (designed an agri-tech monitoring device)
Robotics: 2x National Champions, 3x World Championship Qualifier (only attended once due to clashes with public exams/covid), ranked top 20 at world championships
Won a national essay writing competition (approx. 100 entries)
Won a national civil engineering competition (100 schools competing)
Several national maths challenge awards (similar to AIME)
Extracurriculars
Senior prefect at school (lead diversity and inclusion campaigns, oversee body of 25 prefects)
Cofounder of school maths society, chemistry society, rocketry society. Member of school’s
varsity rugby team (but no major awards and not looking for athletic recruitment)
Robotics team captain/systems lead for past 3 years. Mentor younger teams and volunteer at competitions
Selected to represent the UK at an international aerospace competition this summer (approx 1000 people vying for 12 team spots, won regional and national heats). Now also volunteer with running the competition
Currently leading a team of student researchers on robotics research project - developing robotic motion primitives using RL (no mentor, presenting at a student conference)
Running STEM workshops in local elementary schools - raised ÂŁ1000, seeking grant money for expansion
Ongoing agri-tech project for science fair
Intern at large multinational bank (5 year duration). Other small 1-2 week insight programmes at other corporations (large and small)
Produced short report on Martian wind technology under supervision of an Oxford PhD student
EPQ - producing review paper on bioinspired robotic locomotion and manipulation
Current working on a wind turbine project in my spare time - will become full-fledged over the summer
Essays/LORs/Other
Hopefully strong, although I’m a bit unsure on my humanities reference (the last humanities class I took was in 10th grade) - would a reference from my EPQ dissertation supervisor work??
Cost Constraints / Budget
~$65,000 household income - probably require something close to a full-ride
Schools
Definite: MIT (EA), Caltech, Stanford, Georgia Tech (EA), Columbia (ED), Harvard
Maybe: Embry-Riddle, Harvey Mudd, Purdue
(I’m only really applying to competitive colleges because I’ve got my safeties here in the UK)
I was hoping for feedback on my profile, advice on financial aid, and any general comments. Thanks!
Yes you can. You cannot apply to another ED college, but there is no prohibition by Columbia on EA applications. Other colleges, e.g. Stanford, do prohibit applying EA to another private uni.
As with all ED unis, the caveat is that if accepted in the early round, you are obligated to attend unless the FA package is unaffordable.
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. Thanks for highlighting the financial aid packages - it’s clear I’ll have to spend a bit more time refining my list. For Georgia Tech, are merit scholarships viable? I was reading into their Stamps scholarship - it seems extremely competitive, but I thought I might as well try. I’ll also do some more research into Cornell - why do you say its engineering program is stronger? (My interest in Harvard was piqued by the research done in the Wyss Institute, but if the undergrad experience doesn’t match I’ll have to reconsider).
Places like Harvard will have great research / resources in a subset of the areas in an engg major, and less coverage in other areas. If they are interested in the areas you are interested in, you won’t find them lacking. They will be state of the art. Plus the usual Harvard reputation will help you find jobs etc. Since need blind is a significant consideration, you could also consider Princeton.
If you are going to consider Purdue (which won’t give you full aid), why not Michigan?
Cornell has the strongest engineering program in the Ivy League.
While they are not need blind for internationals, they do still give a fair amount of aid. I think you have a stronger shot at Cornell with need based aid, than for a rare merit scholarship at GT.
As much as it pains me to say it a parent of a Purdue student, take Purdue off your list. They have been much more focused on keeping tuition frozen for everyone than giving big merit awards, especially for international students.
I think you will be a strong applicant to all of these universities, and definitely have a shot at some of the full rides on offer. My only question is regarding your internship at the bank. Have you been doing it for 5 years, or is it a 5-year internship that you’ve recently started?
Why do you want to ED at Columbia? Is that your clear first choice over all the other universities? If it’s not, don’t ED. Do apply early action to any university that has it available, so long as it’s not REA that would conflict with you applying EA to others.
Georgia Tech’s Stamps scholarship is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents OR citizens of the UK, so OP would be eligible (source).
Have you given any thought to applying to Rice University? It’s a top university and provides aid to international students, offers merit aid, and has lots of links with NASA. Here is a link to the Rice Space Institute.
NASA generally doesn’t allow non-citizens to work there, which includes internships (not sure about the Rice Space Institute requirements). NASA has some intern opportunites with certain countries, but doesn’t look like UK is part of that, but of course OP can check into all of this. NASA International Internships - NASA
ETA: OP might consider applying thru QB as the family income seems in the ball park, assuming that’s $65K USD. Most QB partner schools allow international students to match, see here: QuestBridge | Additional Citizenship Requirements
Columbia is my (close) second choice, my first being MIT - if I were to receive an acceptance from Columbia I’d be fully happy to attend, even if I’d received offers from other schools (including MIT). Given the slim chance that I receive an offer from either of these schools (let alone both), applying ED to Columbia and EA to MIT (and others) seemed like the best way of maximising my chances.
As for the internship, it started last year, and will finish in my junior year of college.
I’ve looked into Rice (and really liked the school’s ethos) - if I qualify for application fee waivers (which I haven’t got round to checking yet), then expanding my list to include even more wonderful institutions becomes a viable option. Involving myself with NASA would be incredible, but so far the only direct route I’ve found is getting into Caltech, who offer SURFs at JPL for international students. The US seems to offer a variety of internships with commercial aerospace firms, so if accepted into a US college, those sorts of opportunities would be what I’m looking for.
I’d also like to thank everyone for their advice, it’s been immensely valuable.
This is an important point to highlight. And it isn’t just NASA, it’s most companies with government contracts.
OP - You should plan on returning to the UK to work after university.
Our parent FB group has had many international families upset that their students haven’t been able to secure internships and full time work in the US.